#Blockathon And Subsequent Opportunity

Have you ever been invited to something that you weren’t sure about and it ended up playing out far better then your expectation?

#Blockathon was a truly unique event, and I had no idea of the magnitude going in.

Just prior to my participation my long time friend and favorite Santara brought me home made food at work. I instinctively knew there was power in that food. I had the feeling something big was on my horizon, I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. When Daniel reached out to me with #Blochathon I became intrigued. I know Daniel from Status, we’re both ambassadors there. Daniel is one seriously cool cat.

Let me give those of you unfamiliar with experimental technology a basic frame of reference to fully appreciate what went down. All new technology has issues and subtle intricacies that complicate new user experience. It can be discouraging, and any number of unforeseen issues can arise at any point along the way. Daniel and the bitfwd crew handled everything like seasoned professionals. Having personally participated in numerous beta tests, the BitFWD crew is the best I’ve seen in terms of technical support.

Alchemy has it’s own set of intricacies. bitfwd published a guide detailing the procedure for onboarding oneself into a DAO. Joining the bitfwd DAO was central to the event. The instructions were clear, specific, and provided visual examples (very helpful). Any time someone had a question or issue the Telegram chat was highly responsive, better then what I’ve seen from larger projects. I can’t give enough credit for this.

I, along with the other participants, applied to join the bitfwd DAO. Once accepted I was given reputation within the structure allowing me to vote on proposals. The bitfwd crew had the same high quality guide for adding a proposal. A number of projects from the event had the chance to write a proposal explaining what they created and why their creation deserves funding. This is a huge opportunity for the gig economy, and why I think #Blockathon could be a historically significant event. Any developer team or individual with an idea can submit a proposal, which will then be voted up or down by DAO members. The possible innovation this enables is staggering. At no other point in time has this level of opportunity been so easily accessible.

As I stated it’s normal for events using experimental technology to have hiccups. My first join proposal timed out, I’m thinking that me being in a time zone with a fourteen hour difference may have caused this, honestly I’m not clear as to exactly why. I resubmitted my join proposal and was approved. I would also like to mention that Alchemy can take a minute to sync up. You might not see your proposal as soon as the transaction is confirmed. I noticed the sync time seems to be getting faster.

I was given photos of the event that I used to create a GIF. I wasn’t told what to create or how to go about it. I didn’t have any artificial limits placed on my creative vision. I really appreciated that. As a graphic artist I’m frequently told what I can’t do by projects and as a free speech advocate I’m quick to point out that I don’t work that way. I was very happy with bitfwds approach. The atmosphere of the event was inclusive and friendly, though not in a hysterical or overwhelming way. I felt somewhat rushed, because my goal was to create a GIF from pictures of the event as the event was going on. I had worked a long shift at my day job and sat through an hour long meeting for another project (unrelated) just before I began my work here so I wasn’t operating at 100%. I had another long shift at work the following day, and because of the time difference I only ended up sleeping a few hours. It was so worth it.

I looked over the photos of the event, grabbed the logo for Alpha Wallet (one of the sponsors) and started on the first thing that popped into my head. As an artist, my first idea is usually the best. I loaded the photos into a glitch GIF effect, which malfunctioned. I was in a rush so I didn’t have time to clear the editor and restart over and over again for each photo. I thought for a second, I decided to take each photo and glitch them out by hand. Each frame in the GIF was made by me one at a time. I then arranged the order in a basic GIF editor.

I felt that because of the significance of the #Blockathon, it was deserving of something more. The next day at work I thought about what I could do. I was so absorbed in thought that I didn’t notice my ex, who I’m sure dropped by to haunt me and rub my face in whatever she has going on. I’m more jaded then a jade statue. My coworker told me after she left. I really didn’t care. I started telling him about #Blockathon and what I was thinking about making. #Blockathon was far more interesting to me.

I decided to add audio to my project. I thought that my favorite part of Genesis was a good fit.

-”Genesis 1:26 And God said let us make man in our image”

I’ve always been fascinated by the wording. I felt that the uncertainty the wording brings about matched up with my uncertainty about how the Genesis DAO will play out. So far I’m a fan.

In addition to my extremely positive experience with the #Blockathon and bitfwd DAO I’ve connected with a number of interesting people over Twitter. It’s instructed in the bitfwd guide to writing a proposal to post the link to Twitter. I think incorporating other social media is effective in growing personal networks of participants and gives extra value to those involved.

I had a fantastic time. bitfwd ran a top notch event and educational experience. I’m still a little shocked that everything went as smoothly as it did and looking forward to future bitfwd projects.